Os registros de Contos de Anos para TA 2758-9:
The Long Winter follows. Great suffering and loss of life in Eriador and Rohan. Gandalf comes to the aid of the Shire-folk.
Isso foi 11 anos depois das façanhas de Bandobras ("Bullroarer") Took, que ainda eram bem lembradas no tempo de Bilbo e Frodo, então a ajuda de Gandalf durante o Longo Inverno também seria lembrada.
Essa também foi a primeira interação principal de Gandalf com o Condado, como lemos na Busca de Erebor (em Contos Inacabados):
And then there was the Shire-folk. I began to have a warm place in my heart for them in the Long Winter, which none of you can remember. They were very hard put to it then: one of the worst pinches they have been in, dying of cold, and starving in the dreadful dearth that followed. But that was the time to see their courage, and their pity one for another. It was by their pity as much as by their tough uncomplaining courage that they survived. I wanted them still to survive.